Pickled California Prune & Bulgar Wheat Salad

Prune It is a healthy eating campaign designed to educate consumers to understand the role that California Prunes can play in helping to help reduce the fat and sugar content across a wide range of recipes.  When blended into a puree, prunes offer a useful fat replacer in cooking by adding fat-like (but fat-free) characteristics that also work to enhance the flavours in both sweet and savoury dishes.

In addition, the naturally occurring sugars present in California Prunes can also be used to provide a natural replacement for some of the processed sugars that traditionally feature in sweet recipes.  And because of their high fibre content and ability to add bulk to dishes, California Prunes also have a role to play in reducing portion size without compromising on filling power or taste.

California Prunes is a Vegetarian Society approved product. If you are a strict vegetarian following this recipe please ensure that you opt for vegetarian cheese, free-range eggs and vegetarian vinegar.

Makes: 4Prep Time: 30 minutesCook Time:
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INGREDIENTS

  •  
  • 15 California Prunes
  • 30ml white wine vinegar
  • 5ml honey
  • 160g bulgar wheat
  • 650ml boiling water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
  • 1 bulb fennel
  • 50g dried raisins
  • 1/2 handful fresh mint
  • 1/2 handful flat leaf parsley
  • 30ml olive oil to finish and dress salad

DIRECTIONS

  1. Place the California Prunes, vinegar and honey into a container and leave to soak for 10 minutes.
  2. Place the bulgar wheat into a saucepan, pour over the hot water and season with salt and pepper. Cook the wheat for 5 minutes until tender, then transfer into a large mixing bowl and cover with cling film, this will help trap the heat into the bowl and cause the wheat to cook and fluff up: it should only take about 10 minutes of soaking.
  3. Using a sharp knife finely chop the fennel and herbs ready to add to the salad.
  4. Add the chopped ingredients to the soaked bulgar wheat and mix together with the raisins. Using a pair of scissors, cut the pickled California Prunes into small pieces and mix through.
  5. To finish the salad, mix together the pickling vinegar from the California Prunes and the olive oil to make a fruity dressing, then mix though the salad before serving.

AUTHOR

Peter Sidwell

Peter Sidwell

California Prune Board Ambassador Peter Sidwell, is a chef, baker, TV presenter, author, and innovator of all things food related. Peter has been a chef all his working life and over the years has developed a simple, fresh and innovative way of cooking which focuses on the importance of fine ingredients and technical know-how to ensure the best results. Peter has travelled the world cooking, talking and demonstrating his approach and explaining how and why it works so well for all manner of food offerings. Peter works both with chefs, consumers, food producers and retailers to innovate, create process or refine procurement. Working from his new innovation centre in England's beautiful Lake District, Peter and his team create exciting, attractive and mouth-watering new recipes with digital content, showcasing the delicious flavour and versatility of California Prunes.